


boundaries mean nothing

by evelinaonline



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alive Ben Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Family Bonding, Gen, Klaus and Ben share a braincell, No Apocalypse, No Incest, Post-Apocalypse, everyone is happy, i cant believe i have to say this chsajcbswc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 09:29:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19129273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evelinaonline/pseuds/evelinaonline
Summary: It doesn't matter if Klaus is having his afternoon bath — Ben will show him his new book right here, right now. In other words, this is how you fuck up a perfectly fine Diego Hargreeves.





	boundaries mean nothing

**Author's Note:**

> I struggled with naming this SO much, you guys have no idea.
> 
> It comes as no surprise to anyone that I wrote something about Ben and Klaus AGAIN. I just love their dynamic. They're my favourite dorks. I love them ;w;
> 
> Enjoy some sibling bonding between these dorks (ft. a perfectly fine Diego)!

Ben's favourite thing about being alive was reading all the books he had missed out on during the last decade.

To be fair, he did read some of them while he was a ghost. However, it was hard to get Klaus to cooperate and turn the pages for him — as he literally couldn't do it himself — so he'd consider his new books a win.

There were so many great authors, and the stories were endless. Unfortunately, Ben's time wasn't.

Although there wasn't really a need for the siblings to get jobs — their father happened to be the largest billionaire out there — Ben had tried running some errands around the city, to make some pocket money.

He found himself spending all of it on books, and Klaus — being the voice of reason for once — told him to get to the library instead. Which he did, by the way, but nothing beat the joy of holding your own physical copy of  _Eleanor & Park_.

But Ben also loved fantasy novels.

When they were little kids, he used to tell Vanya all about them. His favourite scenario was when Vanya had read said books too, and they talked about all these magical worlds together.

Ben missed being that person.

What he definitely didn't miss was cliffhangers in books.

He almost threw his most recent read out the window when it ended like that. It was such a beautiful story, with well-written characters and breathtaking scenery — Ben could see the mythical world right in front of him — but there was more to it, and it made Ben feel simply  _unfulfilled_.

He had to tell someone.

" _KLAUS!"_

He didn't even think about it twice when he rushed out his room with his book in hand and entered the bathroom at the end of the hallway without even knocking.

Klaus, who was apparently having the best bubble bath of his life, didn't even flinch. He was buried by millions of bubbles, steam coming out of the bathtub's hot water, and blinding the mirrors in the room.

Ben knew Klaus had noticed him. That smug grin on his face fooled no one, regardless of how much he tried to avoid eye-contact.

"Do I have to run down the hallway again for you to notice me?"

At that, Klaus turned to Ben's direction slightly, faking a gasp. "Ben! I did not see you come in here,  _my dear brother_. How may I be of-"

"Cut the crap, Klaus, this is serious," Ben said, ignoring his brother's jokes. "I finished  _The School for Good_ -"

"- _and Evil_ , yeah, yeah, I've heard you say the title, like, ten million times," Klaus finished for him. "You almost had me convinced it's an emergency this time."

"It  _is_ an emergency!" Ben said. "You'll never guess what happened at the end."

Klaus turned to his side, resting his head on the bathtub's edge. "Unless Sophia and Cthulhu started dating, I'm not interest-"

"For starters it's Sophie and Agatha, not  _Sophia_ and  _Cthulhu_ ," Ben interrupted him. "And second, they kinda did?"

Klaus coughed, eyes widened. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously!" Ben said. "Sophie was basically dying — long story — and Agatha just leaned in and kissed her? And then they disappeared  _out of thin air_ , and I don't know  _where_ , the book didn't say!"

Klaus somehow sat up, facing Ben. "Wait, wasn't there like, a prince that was into one of them?"

"Yeah, he-"

Klaus burst out laughing at this, much to Ben's annoyance. "He's stuck playing third wheel to a pair of lesbians! That's a low blow-"

"No, a low blow is that I have no idea what happens next in the book," Ben interrupted, but couldn't help but smile while speaking. "Let me read the ending to you-"

"Oh come on, you don't have to-"

Ben cleared his throat, trying to suppress his urge to laugh. " _The kids gathered around Sophie, who_ -"

"Beeeeeeen-"

"- _Sophie, who was-_ "

It all happened too fast; Klaus splashed a little more water than needed towards Ben, and Ben reacted a bit too late, resulting in the book being soaked wet.

Ben squealed.

"Oops."

"Klaus, you asshole, I borrowed that one!" Ben said, his heart shattered at the sight of the book's ink giving out.

"Oh come on, the library  _loves_ you, I'm sure they won't mind-"

"From  _Five_."

" _Fuck_."

Mutual panic was shared between them, Ben blowing on the book's pages and Klaus almost tripping while getting out of the tub to find some towels. Ben pretty much snatched them out of his hands, wrapping the book in them.

Both of them sighed in relief, sitting down on the soapy floor.

"That was a close one," Ben said out of breath. "I mean, the book is still ruined and I still went through the biggest panic attack of my life, but at least-"

"Wait a second," Klaus stopped him. "Five reads fantasy novels?"

Ben had never even thought about it.

"First of all, rude," Ben said, "and second, holy shit?"

"How did you not notice?" Klaus gestured in confusion. "If Five ever handed me something that's not an empty cup of coffee or an old scarf, I would have flipped."

"A  _scarf_?" Ben asked. "Five wears  _scarves_?"

"Holy shit!" Klaus exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "I guess we really don't know Five!"

" _Okay, what the hell is going-"_

The two brothers turned towards the door as it opened, revealing Diego in his nightwear, who screamed as soon as he laid eyes on them.

" _WHAT THE HELL, WHY ARE YOU NAKED, WHAT-"_

Diego shut the door closed. Ben had never seen him look so terrified.

"Relax, Diego," Klaus silenced Diego's screams. "Ben was just telling me about his new book."

" _Five's_  book," Ben corrected. "Which Klaus absolutely destroyed, by the way."

"In my defense, I couldn't see how much water was underneath these bubbles."

They heard a pound on the door, and Ben was almost certain it was Diego banging his head against it. " _How do you not see anything wrong with this,"_ Diego half-whimpered. " _What is wrong with this family?"_

"When Ben here was dead, and I was out of juice-"

"Just say drugs, you don't want to make Diego cry even more-"

"-and I was out of  _juice_ ," Klaus repeated himself, making Ben shake his head, "Ben would talk to me while I was in the shower to distract me from the bad boos!"

"In  _my_ defense, he spends like, four hours soaking in water, and there's not much to do while you're a ghost. I was so bored, you can't even imag-" Ben stopped himself, backtracking in the conversation. "Did you just say  _bad boos_? Please never say  _bad boos_  again-"

" _Anyway_ , things got out of hand, I went out of the tub to find towels, and alas, we saved the fantasy novel! Woo!"

"Yeah,  _barely_ ," Ben added. "How am I going to tell Five-"

" _Five reads fantasy novels?"_ Diego asked through the door.

"That's what I said!" Klaus clapped his hands in joy.

" _Whatever, just-"_  Diego sighed. " _Put on some clothes and go to bed, it's late."_

"You got it," Ben said, getting up.

Klaus reached for the towel in Ben's arms, and Ben pulled away before he managed to touch it.

Klaus tilted his head in confusion, a fake smile on his face. "Ben. I need this to leave the bathroom?"

Ben shook his head. "No way, I want to make sure all the water is soaked out of the book."

Klaus stood up too, opening his arms. "Ben. I need this towel."

"You brought this on yourself Klaus," Ben took a step back as Klaus approached him. "No way, you are not hugging me in the nude."

"Beeeeeen~" Klaus teased, stepping closer.

In an attempt to get further away, Ben slipped on the soapy floor, falling back and into the bathtub, that was still filled with water.

Needless to say, it splashed everywhere.

Ben coughed, grimacing as he spit the soap out his mouth. "Klaus, I'm going to end-"

But it was too late. Klaus had taken ahold of the towel and wrapped it around his waist, heading for the door. "Have fun cleaning up, Benny!"

And just like that, Klaus disappeared. At least he had left the book on top of the radiator, safe from all the water. Well, the remaining water, that was.

Ben leaned back, hating the feeling of water on his clothes more than anything.

Maybe reading books wasn't Ben's favourite thing about being alive; planning his revenge on Klaus was. But first, he had a mess to clean up, and a sequel to borrow.

The distant sound of Pogo scolding Klaus for all the yelling only satisfied that need.

**Author's Note:**

> "Sir, you just messed up a perfectly fine Diego Hargreeves."
> 
> He's gonna be traumatised for the rest of his life, the poor soul.
> 
> Ben's revenge coming soon? Who knows :3
> 
> Leave kudos and comment if you enjoyed!! Till next time (which will be soon now that finals are almost over, woo!!)


End file.
